> >1) Do you currently have a 'campus emergency ' number that goes directly to your Public Safety/Campus Police dispatch/office?
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No; all emergency services on the Keene State campus are provided by the city of Keene first responders. This has made emergency response training I do here much easier on other campuses, where it was necessary to try to parse hypothetical emergencies in a training session. This led to confusion for everyone, including the first responders when they were eventually called in an emergency.
>2) If 'No" and your protocol is to call 911 for your PSAP, is the response to laboratory emergencies handled differently than say the response to dormitory issues? You don't have to give a long answer here unless you want to--I will likely be in touch later wanting lots of details...
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No, lab emergencies are handled the same way as all other campuses emergencies - by calling 911. My safety training focuses on the assessment question of how to decide whether something is an emergency rather than the management question of how to respond to an emergency.
In the 1980â??s there was a reason to avoid a fire department response to a lab, when the fire departmentâ??s job was to â??put the wet stuff on the red stuffâ??. These days, hazmat training is integrated into their response protocols and my experience is that the fire department manages chemical situations much more appropriately than they used to.
In my opinion, trying to prevent lab people from calling 911 for emergencies is not a good strategy. I have seen situations where a hazmat response was inappropriate to the lab situation, but this has been because of a lack of pre-planning and lab worker training.
Good luck.
- Ralph
Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Environmental Safety Manager
Keene State College
603 358-2859
ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu
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